350 years ago "...the justices of Cornwall complained to the Lord Lieutenant that in one year the Turks had taken no less than a thousand Cornish Mariners, while Looe alone, in the ten days before the letter was written, had lost 80 men." [quote from St Keverne Local History Society pages]

Does this mean we have a Cornish diaspora in North Africa? Interesting in terms of some of the debates that have been going on in these forums??

I haven't read the book either, but i'd guess they all died grim deaths in the hands of the Islamisits.

On an historical note, however,
Saint Patrick (of Ireland), was not Irish.
He was a Strathclyde Briton captured by an Irish raiding party as a boy.
He "did OK".
A Christian going into north Africa at that time would have had a rougher ride.

"Interestingly I have seen a genetic study which places the Cornish closer to morroccan berbers than to east anglian populations. We're a small world aren't we!"

Well a lot of raping an pilaging was done by Spaniards during the Armada era, which is one reason why there are a lot of dark-skinned Cornish. Given that Spain was ruled for 800 years by the Moors (eg Moroccans) that could explain the Berber blood - although I think the Arabs, not the Berbers did most of the ruling in Spain.

I remember seeing a Moroccan with pale skin, orange hair and freckles in a souk in Marakesh about 10 years ago, so maybe he was one of the desendants of the Cornish slaves?